Battle of the Five Points

The Battle of the Five Points was a gang battle between an alliance of American nativist gangs and an alliance of Irish Catholic immigrant gangs which occurred on 6 February 1846 in New York City's infamous "Five Points" slum in Manhattan. The battle, arranged by the nativist leader William Cutting and the Irish leader Priest Vallon, resulted in Vallon's death and the Natives' takeover of the neighborhood, ushering in 16 years of Native dominance.

Background
Irish Catholic immigration to the United States had existed since the colonial period, but a series of failed nationalist insurrections and the onset of the Great Famine during the 1840s led to massive waves of Irish immigration into the United States. Many of the Irish continued to live in squalor and destitution upon their arrival in the United States, with many of them settling in the "Five Points" slum of New York City (then coterminous with Manhattan). Many of them were forced to turn to crime to survive, and Priest Vallon formed the Dead Rabbits gang to protect the Irish community of the Five Points from anti-Irish violence instigated by American nativists. The nativists, led by William Cutting, were mostly Americans of Protestant Yankee stock, descended from the Puritans or the American Revolutionary War generation. They feared that, due to the strong influence of the Pope over the members of the Catholic Church through his appointed Archbishops, the Pope would manipulate American Catholics into destroying the democracy which the Founding Fathers had built. The "Papist" and "Romanist" conspiracy theory provoked many American Protestants into forming anti-immigrant gangs such as the Bowery Boys, American Guards, Slaughter Housers and the Atlantic Guards. William Cutting, a Manhattan butcher, formed the Confederation of American Natives to unite the nativist gangs against the growing Irish threat, with more Irish gangs such as the Forty Thieves, the Shirt Tails, the O'Connell Guards, the Plug Uglies, and the Chichesters forming.

Battle
On 6 February 1846, Cutting challenged Vallon to a final battle to decide which alliance held sway over the Five Points. Each side gathered around 100 fighters armed with melee weapons such as knives, axes, and clubs, and they met at the snowy Paradise Square in the center of the slum. The two sides exchanged taunts before Vallon decided to initiate the battle, with both sides charging at each other and engaging in bloody melee. While Vallon focused on killing several Natives, Cutting killed his way towards Vallon and ambushed him, stabbing him in the side and in the chest with his knives. Vallon's death abruptly ended the battle as the Dead Rabbits sounded a call to retreat on a horn, and the Natives celebrated their victory by cutting off the noses and ears of the dead Irishmen. However, Cutting ordered that Vallon was not to be touched, as he was to be treated with honor for his leadership and his bravery.

Aftermath
Vallon's death was witnessed by his young son Amsterdam Vallon, who ran off before Cutting could have him turned in to the law for a proper education; Amsterdam secretly swore revenge on his father's killer, burying the knife which killed his father for retrieval 16 years later.

The Nativist victory over the Dead Rabbits at the Five Points led to the Dead Rabbits gang being outlawed; Cutting even forbade the mention of their name. Some of Vallon's former lieutenants, including Gary McGloin and Happy Jack Mulraney, joined forces with Cutting against their fellow Irish immigrants, while others, such as Walter McGinn and Hell-Cat Maggie, took to the streets and refused to swear fealty to the new boss of the Five Points. Cutting became a political boss in his own right, leading the city's Know Nothings and developing powerful connections in the city government, exemplified by his alliance with Tammany Hall boss William M. Tweed from 1862 to 1863. However, in 1863, after failing to assassinate Cutting, Amsterdam Vallon led a resurgence of the Dead Rabbits with the assistance of Tammany Hall and succeeded in killing Cutting in battle during the New York draft riots.